Press Release on the Results of the Labour Force Survey Second Quarter

(April – June, 2018) Round

The labour forceparticipation rate of individuals aged 15 years and above was 45.9%

The number of individuals participating in the labour force in Palestine was 1,364,200in the 2nd quarter 2018; 836,800in the West Bank and 527,400in Gaza Strip.

The labour force participation rate in the West Bank was 45.4% and 46.6% in Gaza Strip, the gap in the participation rate between males and females in Palestine still very big where it reached 70.5% for males compared with 20.6% for females.

32.4% the unemployment rate among labour force participants

Using ILO standards, the number of unemployed was 442,500 in the 2nd quarter 2018; distributed as 283,000 in Gaza Strip and 159,500 in the West Bank.

The unemployment rate in Gaza Strip was 53.7% compared with 19.1% in the West Bank in the 2nd quarter 2018, And the unemployment rate for males in Palestine was 26.4% compared with 53.7% for females.

The highest unemployment rate in the 2nd quarter 2018 was 49.9% among youth aged 20-24 years. For years of schooling, the highest unemployment rate among females with 13 years of schooling and more was 57.0%.

The number of the employment in the local market decreased between the 1st quarter and 2nd quarter 2018

The number of employed in the local market decreased from 811,500 in the 1st quarter 2018 to 795,000 in the 2nd quarter 2018. The number of employed individuals in Gaza Strip decreased by 19,100 employed, while the number of employed individuals in The West Bank increased by 2,600 employed in the same period.

The services sector was the biggest employer in the local market with 32.9% in the West Bank and 52.4% in Gaza Strip.

The public sector employed 21.0% of those in employment; 35.6% in Gaza Strip and 15.7% in the West Bank.

The average daily wage for wage employees in the West Bank was 107.9 NIS compared with 62.6 NIS in Gaza Strip in the 2nd quarter 2018 .

The average weekly hours worked by wage employees in the West Bank was 43.8 hour in the 2nd quarter 2018 and 44.2 hour in the 1st quarter 2018. The average number of days worked per month was 23.0 and 22.7 day in the 2nd quarter 2018 and 1st quarter 2018. The average number of hours worked per week in Gaza Strip was 37.4 and 36.3 hour per week in the 2nd quarter and 1st quarter 2018, and the average number of days worked per month was 23.0 and 22.1 working day in 2nd quarter 2018 and 1st quarter 2018 respectively.

Number of employed in Israel and Israeli settlements was 125,600 in the 2nd quarter 2018

The number of employed individuals employed in Israel and Israeli settlements was 125,600 in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with 121,000 in the 1st quarter 2018. Of these; 71,500 had a permit, 37,200 worked without any permit and 16,900 employed individuals have an Israeli identity card or foreign passport.

The number of employees in the Israeli settlements decreased to 20,200 in the 2nd quarter 2018 from 17,600 in the 1st quarter 2018.

61.6% of employed in Israel and the Israeli settlements worked in the construction sector.

The average daily wage for the wage employees in Israel and the Israeli settlements reached 247.9 NIS in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with 242.5 NIS in the 1st quarter 2018.

The average number of hours worked per week in Israel and the Israeli settlements reached 40.7 in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with 42.4 in the 1st quarter 2018. The average number of days worked per month reached 19.9 working day in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with 20.1 in the 1st quarter 2018.

Employment Status in the 2nd quarter 2018

68.5% of employed individuals are wage employees; 65.9% in the West Bank and 75.6% in Gaza Strip.

19.8% of employed individuals are self- employed; 20.7% in the West Bank and 17.3% in Gaza Strip.

7.1% of employed individuals are employers; 8.5% in the West Bank and 3.3% in Gaza Strip.

4.6% of employed individuals are unpaid family members; 4.9% in the West Bank and 3.8% in Gaza Strip.

26.3% of wage employees are hired by contract (7.7% of them with limited period and 18.6% with unlimited period), compared with 52.6% hired without any contract, and 21.1% of wage employees are hired by verbal agreement.

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All individual information and data submitted to the Bureau for statistical purposes shall be treated as confidential and shall not be divulged, in whole or in part, to any individual or to public or private body, or used for any purpose other than for preparing statistical tables